Heat-treating device



Jan. 30,1940. T. J. NEWBOLD 2,188,793

HEAT-TREATING DEVICE Filed June 28, 1938 I Patented Jan. 30, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HEAT-TREATING DEVICE Thomas JefiersonNewbold, Santa Clara, N. Y. Application June 28, 1938, Serial No. 216,356

,2Claims. c1. 53-5) The present invention relates to'heat-treating devices in general, and in particular to forks and holders for subjecting articles of food to the action of the heat of a fire or'flame while held in v the hand of the user at a point remote enough from the heat for'comfort; It also relates to similar devices for use in heat-treating small.

metal'parts, and other analogous uses.

One object of the invention is to provide a device of this nature which shall be capable of presenting the several surfaces of the article or material to be heated to the'source of heat successively and uniformly without the necessity of removing it from the material-support or holder 16 to turn it over or around, or without need to vary the angle of presentation of the holder or thexposition of the user in heat-treating the several surfaces or in inspecting the progress thereof. Another object of the'invention is to provide a structure in which a plurality of endportions providing different means of engagingand holding the article or'material to be treated can be interchangeably employed with a single handle. A further object is to provide a device of this nature which can be cheaply and simply made, and can be used with'ease and comfort. Still anoth'erobject is to provide means forapplying the invention principles to the ordinary existing types of toasting forks.

To these ends, the invention provides a handle and material-holding device connected therewith by means of a universally flexible joint, coupling, or connection, so that any desired side of the material-holder may be presented to the heat,

without change of the direction of extent of the axis of the handle. To provide for the successive use of a plurality of material-holding devices, the latter are attached to the joint in easily and. quickly detachable relation. The device is contrived to permit its being made in the simplest manner of the cheapest component materials, and its manner of utilization is self-evident. An adapter is provided to fit over the tines of the common toasting fork, having a material-holder attached thereto by theflexible joint contem 5 theinvention' when contrived for holdinga slice of bread to be toasted before an open fire, the handle being of any desired length and being broken away for convenience in'illustration.

Fig. 2 illustrates the position of the parts of Fig. lat the material-holding end of the device, 5 when the handle has been rotated a half-turn aboutits axis from the position shown in Fig. 1.

Figs. 3 and-3a show the provision for preventing locking of the universal joint when the axes of the parts joined thereby are at right angles. 1'0

Fig. 4 shows the joint and a portion of the handle of previous figures with a different material-holding device in place thereon I Fig. 5 shows an alternativeform of flexible joint between the handle and the material-holder, 15

formed of a'coilspring.

Fig. 6 shows anotheralternative'form of the flexible joint, comprising a simple link connecting eyes at one end: of the handle and of the material-holder respectively. 7 0

Fig. 7. shows a clamp type ofmaterial-holding device, suitable for holding chops, sausages, or other foods and also for holding bolts and other metal parts during heat treatment. I

Fig. 8 shows as basket-type of material-hold 25 ing device for blueing, annealing, andotherwise heat-treating a plurality of small metal parts simultaneously, and also capable of being used if desiredwith-food stuffs.

Fig. 9 shows the adapter for connecting the 3 material-Supporter holder to thetines .of a common toasting fork by means of a flexible joint.

According to the invention, the handle I may be of any desired type, construction or length, and will most suitably be straight in order to balance properly in the hand in its various positions of rotation about its longitudinal axis. The form shown herein is of very simple construction, comprising a' single piece of wireor rod 3 doubled backupon itself around a block 5 of wood or other 40 material constituting the grip, with the intermediate lengths of the wire brought into contiguous relation and either twisted or preferably spotwelded together at intervals. In the forms of Figs. 1 to 4, 7' and 8, employing the common form of universal joint, the end portions of the wire 3 are bent to spread widely apart and then to converge-as indicated at l and finally to point end- .wise directly toward each other so that at least variously contrived as desired, either as a solid ball preferably made of brass as shown in Figs. 1 to 4 and '7, or may be merely a section of tube I4 as shown in Fig. 8.

A second pair of holes in the cross or body I I, I 3, in alignment with each other on an axis at right angles to the first pair, receives the axially aligned extremities I5 of the material-holder, variously contrived as shown, and preferably made very simply out of bent wire or rod as in the case of the handle I.

To provide for easy detachment and replacement in substituting one type of material-holder for another, the portions of the wire adjacent the extremities I5, after being spaced apart at I1 in substantially parallel relation are brought close together in parallel relation at I9 and -encircled with a sliding sleeve 2| which can be slid manually along the parallel portions I9 away from the-extremities I5 to permit the latter to be spread apart sufficiently to enter them in their proper holes in the body II, the sleeve 2| being then pushed back toward extremities I5 to hold the latter in secure engagement within their bearmgs.

' The characteristics of the device thus described are that the material-holder is connected to the handle by a flexible joint permitting continuous rotation of the material being treated on a vertical axis throughout 360 and beyond, simply by rotating the handle on its axis while the handle is held level or pointing downward at any convenient angle, thus permitting the material to be heated on its bottom and on all of its sides exceptthe top by direct radiation from the source of heat without having to hold the material over the fire and thus usually in the hot gases or flame, and withoutthe user having to put his hand over the fire, and also without having to remove the article and replace it in changed relation on the holder, as is necessary in the case of a fork or other rigid support. The center of gravity of the article being heat-treated is always directly under and pendent from the center of support on the end of the handle, and these two centers define the vertical axis on which the material rotates.

A feature of construction which is of importance in the case of material-holders such as those of Figs. 1 and 4 in which there are two main substantially plane and parallel sides of the article to be heated, the slice of bread 23 or the marshmallows 25, respectively, is that the bail comprised by the end-portions I! which hook into the cross of the universal joint is disposed in a vertical plane at right angles to the planes ofthe two opposite sides of the slice of bread or the marshmallows. Thus, the lost motion, present in any universal joint as the two parts connected by the joint approach a right-angle relation and theaxis of oscillation defined by the pair of journals of one part approaches alignment with the axis of rotation of the other part, v

is reduced to a minimum and presentation of the article fiatwise to the fire is assured. 1 i A further feature of construction which enables the joint to work so as to rotate the material-holder on a vertical axis when the handle is held level, and thus enables one part to rotate I the other even when the two are at right angles, is illustrative in Figs. 3 and 30. It is to be-noted that the arms I! are bent out of the vertical plane passing through the pintles I5 of the materialholder, and thus are successively engaged by the PQrtions l of the handle I to start the materialholder rotating on its vertical axis before the universal joint can look so as to tip the axis oi.

even though the two parts stand in right-angle.

relation to each other. 1

The various material-holders shown are illustrative merely of the variety of holders which can be employed. That of Figs. 1 and 2, indicated at Z'I, comprises a single piece of Wire bent into an inverted Y with doubled legs spaced apart to receive a slice of bread 23 inserted diagonally as 'shown whereby its center of gravity is so low and the angle of the side edges such that it cannot slide or roll out from the holder. A halfturn of handle I on its axis turns'the holder and the bread held therein from the position shown in Fig, 1 to that of Fig. 2. It is to be noted that all six surfaces of the sliceof bread 23 can be presented to the heat radiated from an open fire built on level ground without needing to shift I the position of the bread in the holder. The holder 29 of Fig. 4 is designed for use intoasting marshmallows, and possesses the same advantages just described regarding the toaster 21,

and in addition permits a plurality of marshmallows to be toasted at once. The device 35 of Fig. 7 can be clamped around a sausage, orin the case of heat-treating metal partsaround a bolt grasp the article by a sliding sleeve 39 working in identical manner with thesleeveZI described.

The basket-typeholder 4| of Fig. 8, is of obvious construction, and can hold a large number of small parts to be heat treated ma fiame.

Since the invention contemplates the employment of any type of flexible joint between the handle and. the material-holder, illustrative embodiments of the two of these other types are shown in Figs. 5 and 6, in the first of which the handle 43 is formedof a tube, and a flexible coil spring 35 has one of its ends received within the end of the handle that is away from the grip and secured therein by pin 41. The other end of by twisting a reverse bend of the component wire forming the .upper end of the material-holder,v

which'may have any of the forms shown or may be made as preferred, there being no necessity for separating the two arms at the top of the material-holder to embrace the fcross of the universal joint, as the spring takes the place of,

such universal joint in the present instance. In the form of Fig. 6, an eye 5I in the extremity of the handle 53 is connected with an eye 55 in'the upper end of a material-holder similar to that described in connect. with 5, by a small. link the eyes and the connecting link being just large. enough to permit free pivotal movement'at the two points where the link engages;

the two eyes, so as to cut down lost motion ,as

the handle 53 is rotated on its axis to impart, ro.

tation to the material-holder on a vertical axis.

The features of operation of these forms are as described hereinbefore, the advantage ofuthese forms lying in their cheapnessof construction.

The device shown in Fig. 9 enables the fea-.

tures of the invention to be applied to the existingcommon type of toasting fork having two or;

or the like, the'jaws 3'! being drawn together to more tines 59. In this case, a device BI formed of bent wire is provided having two eyes 63 to encircle the tines 59 a fairdistance back from their points, a bend 65 to embracethe back and sides of the handle 87, and adjacent bends 69 to overlie the tines 59 at their shoulders, being bent to fit these shoulders whether disposed in the plane of the handle-portion 61 or offset from such plane as is more commonly the case. The end i the adapter 6| which extends beyond the points has recurved spaced end-portions H which terminate in axially aligned inwardly pointing portions corresponding to the pintles 9 of Fig. 8, which engage within aligned bearings in the "cross or body ll, which together with the rest of the material-holder is or may be as previously described in connection with Figs. 1 to 4, '7 and 8.

This device is installed by slipping the tines 59 I through eyes 63, sliding the device along the tines away from the points thereof until bends 69 can be brought above the plane of the tines, and then drawing the device toward the points of the tines, whereupon bends 69 will overlie the shoulders of the tines. and bend 65 will engage the handleportion 6'3 just above the shoulders, to prevent the device from sliding off from the tines. Thereafter the entire assembly is employed just as described in connection with Fig. 1.

I am aware that many modifications may be made therein by any person skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the particular forms shown, or

to the details of construction thereof, but what I do claim is:

1. In a heat-treating device, in combination, a

handle, spaced aligned pintles thereon, a member having bearings in which the pintles are received, a material-holder having spaced aligned pintles, additional bearings in the said member to receive the pintles onthe material-holder with their axis at right angles to that of the first-named pintles, from which additional bearings the holder and. its burden of material hang in pendent relation with their combined center of gravity below and in a vertical line with the center of support defined by the said additional bearings, and about which vertical line as an axis they are rotated upon rotation of the handle about its longitudinal axls. i

2. An attachment for toasting forks comprising means detachably engaging the fork back of the points thereof, a support for the material to be toasted, and a flexible coupling connecting the support to the detachable engaging means and thus to the fork. THOMAS JEFFERSON NEWBOLD. 

